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Pitcher Perfect Pizza by KenWells Pizza without beer is a little bit like…gumbo without rice (or potato salad, depending on which part of the Gulf Coast you call home). It’s just not right! But I’ve found that some beers go better with pizza than others. As a serious student of beer — I spent two years research- ing my beer book, Travels with Barley: The Quest for the Perfect Beer Joint — I have long pondered this question. For starters, I’m no beer snob, so feel free to eat your pizza with your favorite beer, whether that’s Miller Lite, Bud, Louisiana favorite Abita Amber or something more exotic. But you might want to pause long enough to consider how America’s beer production — and beer palate — have changed since the so-called “craft beer revolution” began in earnest in the 1970s. For the more adventurous pizza and beer lover, the multitude of beers available these days present some adventurous pairing opportunities. But first, a little backstory on the beverage. Beer has two major categories: lagers, which are brewed with yeast that ferments at low temperatures; and ales, which are brewed with yeast that ferments at room temperature. Lagers tend to be golden, clear and smooth to drink. Ales tend to have earthier flavors and a wide color spectrum. All beer is supposed to contain barley, a grain; hops, a flower cone that serves as a bittering agent; yeast for fermentation; and water. The process is simple. Barley is roasted and turned into what’s call malt. The malt is mixed with water, hops and yeast, and left to ferment into beer. Malt is the soul of the beer; hops are the spice. Before the craft beer revolution, America was a middle- of-the-road lager nation with Budweiser at the top and a couple dozen national and regional competitors, all churning out beer that was essentially in the same place

on the taste spectrum. Lagers are of German and Czech origin but we Americanized them, sometimes substi- tuting rice and corn for barley to lighten their tastes. Sure, zealous beer drinkers swore they could tell their Bud from Schlitz or Falstaff, and I don’t doubt that they could. But in truth, a great deal of brand loyalty was more the result of clever marketing than taste. How things have changed. When I published Travels with Barley in 2004, craft beer represented about 10 percent of American beer sales. These days, it’s up to 24 percent, with total revenues approaching $28 billion annually. The big guys, Bud and Miller, are still around (albeit with foreign owners) but they now compete with more than 7,300 brewpubs and microbreweries that churn out a dizzying array of beer styles. Some historical styles, like British bitters and porters that had been disappearing in their native countries, have been resurrected by U.S. microbrewers. And what we’ve done here with Belgian-style beers (in my opinion) rivals in taste and essence the best of the breweries in Belgium. This revolution hasn’t skipped the Gulf Coast or my home state of Louisiana. If you check out the website of the Louisiana Craft Brewers Guild, it lists around 30 craft brewery or brewpub members scattered throughout the state. There could be another dozen small brewpubs that aren’t members. That’s a huge change from my Travels with Barley researching journey through the state in late 2001 and early 2002. Back then, there was Abita Brewing Co. on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Crescent City Brewhouse (locally owned) in New Orleans’ French Quarter and Gordon Biersch (part of a brewpub restau- rant chain) in Downtown New Orleans, and nothing else. And these contemporary breweries are cranking out an impressive array of styles: pale ales, hoppy IPAs, Belgian- style blonde ales, märzens (an often dark, malty German lager) stouts (think Guinness) and Imperial stouts and, of course, lagers. My hometown of Houma and my college town of Thibodaux both now support very good brewpubs. For pizza lovers, this is both a bonus and a challenge. Over the years, I’ve eaten a lot of pizza (always with beer) and done quite a bit of experimenting in terms of pairing. What follows are my opinions and observations based upon beers that I’ve tried; feel free to take my recommendations, or experiment for yourself.

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